Tuesday, March 15, 2011

'Cause we gon' rock this club/ We gon' go all night

Thurs March 3NGO visit of the day: World Bank. Now, I don’t know much about the World Bank, so I thought it was a pretty good presentation, but apparently they’ve got a bad rep and the rest of the group wasn’t so convinced. I was, however, skeptical of the fact they had a pool.Lots of running around this afternoon. My adaptor’s being feisty so I went to a buy a new one. Went back and forth 3 times exchanging the ones they sold me. The one I ended up still doesn’t work that well. Also learned that printing/copying costs twice as much here as in Dschang! I’m so spoiled at TU! Ellen and I started distributing our questionnaires on working women.Also, I must have seen 15 white people today. Too weird, I can’t handle it. Seriously.

Fri March 4Watched a Cameroonian film in French class—not a lot of those out there. Fun fact: there is no movie theater here in Yaoundé.Final dance class!Wow the week went quickly!

Sat March 5Started the day off with a football match: student’s vs host siblings. Quite a muddy affair, but fun even though I have zero soccer skills.It took Ellen and me FIVE HOURS to gather SIX SURVEYS. Basically, the women at the market: weren’t in our sample population, say they’re too busy to help (even if they’re clearly not), think we’re spies, or demand a beer in exchange for helping. A very sweaty and trying afternoon, but at least we finished.On the plus side…fun night!! SIT took us to a nightclub. It was pretty swanky place, velvety red seats, light up floor, and more. We did not, however, get the memo on the appropriate time to arrive. Got there at 10:30 and were literally the first people there. Oh well, by the time we left 5 hours later the place was hoppin’. Then we satisfied all of our elementary-school dreams and got to spend the night at school. Nothing like some 4am grilled cheese sandwiches in a country that rarely treats us to cheese before passing out.

Sun March 6Today’s highlights:-Got really very close to running out of gas on the way to church this morning.-Manuella decided to vom on my new dress.-Homework. Get this: I choose to write an essay in French instead of English. That’s definitely a first.-I saw Magnus for more than 5 minutes for the first time since I got back from Dschang (he’s been really busy because he’s starting a printing shop).

Mon March 7Got caught in the rain today for the first time…This evening we got to sit in the audience of a weekly tv program while they were filming. Think Oprah, except completely different, because this is Cameroon. This week’s theme was Women’s Day, and it featured quite a variety of guests. It was both interesting and “interesting…”.